by South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Canadian Adam Svensson shared the lead at the Players Championship on Friday before the second round was called off due to an impending storm.
Bezuidenhout was four under par in his round, through 14 holes, leaving him eight under par for the tournament, while Svensson had the same score but had only completed 11 holes.
American Ben Griffin was the clubhouse leader after completing his round, shooting a one-under 71 to leave him two shots behind the leaders.
Play will resume at 7am local time on Saturday with world number three Rory McIlroy facing the hefty risk of missing the cut.
The Northern Irishman had six more in the tournament after hitting a double bogey at the par-4 sixth, putting him five shots short of the projected cut.
World number two Jon Rahm of Spain withdrew from the tournament on Friday morning due to illness.
The 26-year-old Bezuidenhout, who has racked up ten wins at international level but has never won on the PGA Tour, was pleased with how he handled the windy conditions early in his round.
“The first nine holes were tough. It was very windy. But it actually calmed down for the last hour. I just tried to keep the ball in play on the green,” he said.
Svensson, who won his first PGA Tour event at the RSM Classic in November, started on the back nine and had just made back-to-back birdies after the turn when the start of the day was announced.
“I was hitting a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, putting well. Just playing safe, playing aggressive when I can,” he said.
American Collin Morikawa and Australian Min Woo Lee sat two strokes behind the leaders for a part of third with Griffin.
– Spieth is lucky –
Australian Jason Day, who entered the tournament with four straight top-10 finishes, made a second straight 70 to sit at four under par.
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth charged a three-over-two 75 with double bogeys on the 14th and 5th holes to bring it even.
“I had a bad day. I had a great start, and then I got behind the driver, I missed fairways on some of those holes on the back nine. Almost every hole hit the wrong spot,” he said. saying.
“It got really challenging, but it didn’t help me with some of the decisions I was making,” he added.
Spieth had a spectator to thank for making the cut after making an eagle on his final hole, the par-5 ninth, to keep him in the tournament.
The American’s shot off the tee was headed for the water, but struck a watching fan and the ball bounced off the fairway. Spieth then chipped in from the green for his eagle.
“I had a big lucky break on the nine or I wouldn’t be playing the weekend. I’m trying to get the info out of that guy and watch literally whatever I want this weekend because everything from here on out is because he hit it.” said. .
“Very lucky. I can’t say I deserved it, but I tried to keep my attitude together and stay focused trying to put one foot in front of the other. I don’t know if that means I got rewarded for it or what, but overall I had a lot of , good luck”.
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